Why Does Mind
Avoid the Present Moment?
Is mind truly capable of operating
in this present and real moment of now?
Memories: When
mind is stuck in the forever gone and now unreal past:
Memory is at best
incomplete, one sided, and revisionist because mental
consciousness is a process, which molds thoughts of past events into
forms colored by preferences and biases conditioned by past education,
experience, and reasoning. These are simply attachments serving the ego,
the delusional self. Since memory requires mental processing any
noticing
of its conclusions is not truly in the present moment, since mind
processes
these thoughts, feelings, emotions, perspectives, attitudes, and
viewpoints
constructed in the past. The moment any mental state/idea is formulated
by mind, time continues its flow leaving its conclusions behind in the
past...
Planning ahead:
When mind
imagines the yet uncome and equally unreal future:
Originating from the same mental processes, the motivation to make plans
is
indicative of a mind afflicted. It is a mind conditioned by dukkha,
that is:
Mental and/or physical pain, suffering, stressed and dissatisfied,
tormented
with feelings rising out of a desperate need to protect the delusional
self,
a mind struggling to prevent what it realizes in its ignorance is
inevitable
deterioration, death, and annihilation. Moment by moment. Life by life.
Mindfulness of the present &
Meditation Reveals How Our Minds Operate:
Real-time personal observations of our own minds operating in what might
be
the best approximation of the present moment is during awareness
meditation.
It reminds of sitting in the middle of a busy train terminal watching
travelers
come into and disappear out of the view. There seems to be no mental
limit as
to direction, volume, or capacity in these passing mental phenomena,
that all
arise conditioned by mental contact with both external and internal
events,
past, present and future, all totally out of reach of personal control.
This does not
mean that we are left helpless, as we can chose to:
A. Pay attention to these
mental phenomena, thereby giving them importance
and conditioned reinforcement resulting in clinging and attachment.
B. Or, passively observe, smiling in
equanimity, simply letting them pass away
into the same empty mental oblivion from which they arose.
C. Develop and train a mind which is
totally devoid of the arising of thought,
where all mental processing has ceased. This is a mind free of
clinging, desire,
and attachment. When all mental processing has ceased, such a mind is
truly
in the present moment, because no reflection is required, as no mental,
or
physical action is being processed or contemplated.
It all boils down to a personal choice to participate, or not to
participate in
these flickering, yet captivating effects of mental processing.
When faced with such decisions I have
found it beneficial to follow Buddha's
advice as given in the Ambalatthika-rahulovada Sutta regarding
the crucial
importance of observing, practicing and training our minds.
source: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.061.than.html
By our friend and kind editor Ronald J. Chiodi, Concord USA.
More on awareness of the present = Mindfulness
(Sati):
Noble_Awareness,
Awareness_Analysis,
Clear Comprehension,
What is Right Awareness?,
Four_Foundations_of_Awareness,
Aware_and_Composed,
Aware_and_Settled,
Clever_Presence,
Awareness_Sati,
Causes of
Sati,
Sati Studies,
Sati_in_Solitude,
Accumulation_of_Advantage,
Sati_a_la_Anuruddha,
Mindfulness,
The_Awareness_Ability,
The_Four_Postures,
Winning_Awareness,
Clear_and_Aware_Comprehension,
Crucial_Foundation,
Sati_Summary,
Feeding_Awareness,
One_and_only_Way,
4 Foundations of Awareness,
Accumulating_Advantage,
Careful_and_Rational_Attention,
Sati_Acute,
Phenomena_is_Mental_States,
1_Producing_4,
Mighty_Magic_Majesty,
Seeing_the_Possible,
Thousand_Aeons.
